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Stray Cats -> Housecats?
A Bear
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Obligatory photo:
[Not pictured: the calico]
There have been a trio of stray cats (grey, black, and calico) who have been apparently hanging around my house these past few months. I had sort of seen them, but not until a few weeks ago had I really realized that a) there were three of them. b) they were strays, and c) they often hang out in the bushes in front of my house. My wife and I like cats, and have taken to feeding them on our front porch every evening. Given the outrageously skittish nature of these guys, it was pretty clear to me they were strays, and all the neighbors we have talked to about them seem to agree that they have just been hanging out around our neighborhood since December.
At first these three cats would have nothing to do with people, running into our bushes at even the sight or sound of intruders. I did some reading and figured these guys had reached a point where they were pretty much feral--we could feed them (and they show up to eat like clockwork), but they wouldn't ever really be housecats or anything. Nevertheless, we took little steps to show them that we meant no harm, and that we were the source of their food, and slowly they are getting more comfortable with our presence. They still wont let us touch them, but we can stand or sit a foot or so away with no problems while they hang out on our front porch. On warmer nights we keep the door open and sit in the doorframe so they continue to get used to us. They like to rub up on our open door and lay around on the mat. But always when they peeked into our house they decided they didn't want in.
Until tonight.
My wife and I fed them, kept the door open and watched them for a bit, and then sat down for dinner, keeping the door open while we ate. Much to our surprise, they walked right in and began to poke around. We kept put at the table eating while they poked around our little house, walking down our hall and checking out all the rooms. Frankly, we were shocked. These guys (girls, actually) seem like pretty young cats, but are at least 3 months old. They still scurry at abrupt movement or loud sounds, but their forwardness in investigating our house sort of reopened the whole "never housecats" book. Does anyone have any experience "taming" wild cats? I've kept my expectations reasonable, but with the progress of just a few weeks I'm beginning to wonder...
tldr: When are strays untamable?
[Not pictured: the calico]
There have been a trio of stray cats (grey, black, and calico) who have been apparently hanging around my house these past few months. I had sort of seen them, but not until a few weeks ago had I really realized that a) there were three of them. b) they were strays, and c) they often hang out in the bushes in front of my house. My wife and I like cats, and have taken to feeding them on our front porch every evening. Given the outrageously skittish nature of these guys, it was pretty clear to me they were strays, and all the neighbors we have talked to about them seem to agree that they have just been hanging out around our neighborhood since December.
At first these three cats would have nothing to do with people, running into our bushes at even the sight or sound of intruders. I did some reading and figured these guys had reached a point where they were pretty much feral--we could feed them (and they show up to eat like clockwork), but they wouldn't ever really be housecats or anything. Nevertheless, we took little steps to show them that we meant no harm, and that we were the source of their food, and slowly they are getting more comfortable with our presence. They still wont let us touch them, but we can stand or sit a foot or so away with no problems while they hang out on our front porch. On warmer nights we keep the door open and sit in the doorframe so they continue to get used to us. They like to rub up on our open door and lay around on the mat. But always when they peeked into our house they decided they didn't want in.
Until tonight.
My wife and I fed them, kept the door open and watched them for a bit, and then sat down for dinner, keeping the door open while we ate. Much to our surprise, they walked right in and began to poke around. We kept put at the table eating while they poked around our little house, walking down our hall and checking out all the rooms. Frankly, we were shocked. These guys (girls, actually) seem like pretty young cats, but are at least 3 months old. They still scurry at abrupt movement or loud sounds, but their forwardness in investigating our house sort of reopened the whole "never housecats" book. Does anyone have any experience "taming" wild cats? I've kept my expectations reasonable, but with the progress of just a few weeks I'm beginning to wonder...
tldr: When are strays untamable?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
A Bear on
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These cats appear to not be feral, as they walked in. That could mean a couple things -- they were from a house and kicked out or lost, they are true outdoor cats but still young enough to be curious about new environments, they're someone's outside cats that occasionally come inside, or... i think that's most every common scenario. In general, if you take in outside cats and you're worried about them being someone else's, you'd take a photo and put up a "are these your cats?" sign. If you just want them as your own cats, then you just take them in.
Most cats will adapt to a new space rather quickly, especially if these 3 are buddies (they tend to encourage each other to explore, so they adapt faster). If you wanted to take them in, go for it and take 'em to the vet to get them checked out.
The biggest challenge for outdoor cats is to prevent them from going outside again. This assumes that you're from the southern US, not the southern UK. If you open your house to the cats but let them continue to go outside, they will then see humans as REALLY friendly and the next person who sees them will think they're that much more awesome ;D
anyway, I digress. I'm sure they'd be fine if you adopted them, but be careful with your food and garbage because they would probably get into it. Also, I'd advise against feeding street cats, even if they tug at your heart strings. They will breed and make more mouths to feed.
This is one of the things that makes me want to accelerate our acclimation process. We think they are all female, and young, and would prefer they get fixed before our neighborhood goes from 3 cats to 30 and animal control gets involved. Even if we cant have them for good, there are some local places that let you rent humane "cat traps" so you can capture them and take them to the vet to get checked out. But if we had a choice, we rather adopt them for good than suddenly spring a trap on the little guys.
Since she was an outside cat, she isn't very loving like the cats I've had in the past and she would attack me if I tried touching her when she didn't want me to. I've had her for about a year and a half now and she has relaxed a lot, but she's still not like a normal house cat. She's slowly relaxing however, about 2 weeks ago she slept on my lap for the first time. I guess I'd say that unless the cat is completely batshit crazy, given time and space most cats will start to get used to life on the inside. I'd recommend keeping the cats inside from now on if you plan on keeping them, it's safer and I think they'll pretty much forget about the "feral" life. Also my cat was about one when I found her, so I'm pretty sure she was outside for a good bit of her life.
PSN - CardboardNine
Toms are not a great idea to pick up as strays...they can be pretty aggressive and like to mark their territory with pee. I don't mean aggressive to people (usually) but a stray tomcat will try to kill any other male that shows up on his territory.
Females are usually a little better but if they've had to rely on their own initiative to feed themselves they will be small mammal/bug/lizard/bird murderesses. They tend to be pretty skittish like you've been describing but if they get used to you they can be very affectionate. Just see how it goes, if you want them to be outdoor/indoor cats I'd say get them spayed and keep up with their shots. Litterbox training a stray is a sorta 50/50 deal once they get past a certain age.
Sometimes, sometimes not. When I was a kid we had these two battle-scarred stray tomcats who came by every once in a while (because we fed them) who always hung out together. They were just friends, it seemed like. Eventually a cat-loving neighbor adopted them both and they got along fine with her cats.
They did mark our property with pee, I don't know if that changed after they were neutered or not.
I've tamed a few strays/wildish cats in my time. Once they were to the point of repeatedly voluntarily coming into the house, I would get my husband to shut the door behind them.
Before you do this, try to have a place ready for them - their own room for a few days, preferably. You will want to be able to lock them in there for a little while, with of course food and beds and a litterbox (and some toys and a scratchpad). They will be upset. They will want out. They will cry and howl. Don't let them back outside, it will pass. Do visit them frequently - it is a good idea to leave them a couple of old tshirts, towels, or blankets with your scents on them. At this point it is also a good idea to get cat carriers and leave them in the room with them, doors open and preferably with the scented tshirts in/around them as well.
Once you have them locked in your house, make the vet appointments for the checkups/spaying and/or neutering. By the time the vet is able to see them (hopefully within a week), the cats should have calmed down enough. Their first trip out of that room should be in a carrier, so that they don't somehow bolt and hide somewhere in your house (and maybe even escape outside). Once they come back home from the vet, let them live in that room a while longer to let them recuperate.
After a few days of recuperation, start letting them out of the house for supervised visits (by now you should have put all your breakables away and said goodbye to your leather furniture >_>). Let them explore and figure the place out. It may take some time before they are fully comfortable, but by this point they should have a good start at being housecats.
If you are going to move the litterbox out of the place where they first encountered it, you should do it in stages. Get another litterbox and put it in the new location, and gradually move the first one (a few feet every day, or so) to the litterbox in the new area.
If you are even remotely considering declawing them (please don't!), consider a product like Softpaws and regular trimming instead. Hell, even if you aren't thinking of declawing, look into that stuff.
She still has issues with being picked up and carried around, but nothing like the first few weekes I had her. Even if you don't keep them, if you can afford it... get them spayed. Ask around about spay/neuter clinics. There's one near where I live and they spay for $45, neuter for $25. My vet wanted to charge $180, per kitten.
I also advocate the no-declaw. It's horrible... they either cut the tendons that allow the cat to flexon and unsheath their claws (which means you have to constantly trim them) or they just chop off the ends of their toes. =(
It helps if the cat's interested in coming inside.
If you're worried about scratching things, get a scratching post, and show them where it is as soon as they come inside (just as you'd show them where the litter is). dig their claws into it, etc, and make sure it's got lots of carpet. they'll often want to use it over anything else, simply because it works better than your couch.
This is a very cool thing for you to do, and if you are unable to "train" them to be housecats if at the very least you can get them fixed that is a good deed.
Apparently my county has a small feral cat problem, but there are people who do a cat catch/fix/release sort of thing.
It sounds like they might be young enough for you to turn them into housecats though. If they were adults, it would probably be out of the question, as they'd be somewhat set in their ways.
If they've gotten used to being outside, you may have to have them be indoor/outdoor cats.
I asked my mom about this because she took in a roughly 4 month old stray cat when she was younger. In her case the only difference to the other two cats in the house was that the stray was always the "serious cat", although not entirely opposed to occasional petting. Apparently living out on the streets can take some of the playfulness out of the cat, which makes sense. On the upside, cats that are less playful are also less of a hazard to furniture.
Also, +1 vote for not declawing if you decide to take them inside. There's a reason that procedure is illegal in most of the western world.
The real trick is going to be getting all three comfortable, and in the same place at the same time. Its, quite literally, like herding cats. We have a spare front bedroom that would probably be "their room" if we were to keep them inside at first to acclimate them. I guess its just going to be a matter of slowly moving the food down the hall and into the room.
If you do this, eventually over time you may find them becoming housecats, as they grow to like the food and shelter. This happened to my parents with some feral farmcats, who are now exactly like housecats, but better hunters and not very well house trained.
Just a few days ago, it was touch-and-go trying to get them to approach treats out of my hand, and now suddenly she is running in to be pet? I'm hoping in a few hours when we put out their proper dinner this can be repeated, but it was a pretty shocking step forward.
I tried to make sure the other two saw that the grey one and I were getting along, I figure maybe it will rub off on them.
i've taken in a lot of stray cats
And, yeah, a few of them end up not even being strays, just cats that have run away, been chased away etc.
Whether or not your cats will end up being affectionate and house-cat-like depends mostly on how old they are and what they've been through.
One of my cats i found in a creek when she wasn't even a year old, she's about 6-7 years old now and still very skittish and afraid of humans
I found one of my other cats the same way, and she is the most affectionate, cuddly cat i've ever had.
toms are a different case. fixing them will reduce some the tendency to fight etc but once they go tom they dont ever really go back.
honestly i doubt they are feral. more than likely someones outdoor cat, or someone abandoned them
As everyone has already mentioned, strays are a mixed bag. There's a good indication that at least one of the cats will come to be affectionate with you. Just keep doing what you're doing.
I picked up a stray once, and he turned out to be the most affectionate, loving cat I ever had. Way more appreciative than the other, fat, all-I-know-is-this-cushy-life cats.
Something like this is what I thought. She was nosier than normal. I thought maybe it was that she was in heat, or she had some sort of itch she really wanted to have scratched (fleas or a skin condition). She looked clean though, and I washed my hands after petting her.
I don't recommend assuming responsibility of stray cats.